After the Fuse
by SSpeedy
Summary: The war against Planet Fusion is over! Time to kick back and have a break for once. That's what Ben Tennyson thought until he learned a certain boy-genius chose to stay behind in his laboratory. For a 'good reason'.
1. Chapter I

**A/N: **Staying up 'til 3AM one December night playing Fusion Fall spawned the idea. Originally supposed to be a one-shot, but my subconsious mind took over.  
These things happen. Enjoy, as my obsessions know no bouds and I have a large amount of free time to show for it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the virus.

**

* * *

**The music was loud practically shook the ground they danced on. Downtown's Time Square was turned into a celebration party for the destruction of Planet Fusion and all the Fusions it brought along with it. Everyone was there.

Except for a brown-haired boy wearing a green jacket with the number '10' on the left chest. Ben ran from the party and down the empty street. He had found out from a certain blonde haired, pig-tailed, ballerina dressed girl that a certain red-orange haired, four-eyed, boy-genius found a possible virus left behind from the Fusions.

Ben was curious as to why Dexter wasn't in Time Square celebrating the victory over the Fusions. That's why he went to DeeDee. And when she told Ben that her dork-of-a-brother discovered something, he _had _to get there to know for sure.

The wind was blowing and had a nice chilly sensation. The skies were clear; not a cloud in sight to block the stars and the moon which was almost full. The perfect night for a party.

And something just _had _to come up. Of course Ben could've stayed and enjoyed himself. But he felt bad when he noticed Dexter wasn't present. Though he would obviously just sit off to the side somewhere with his laptop rather then get up and move around. But it would've been better than being cooped up _alone_ in his laboratory, working while everyone else is out having a good time, right? The least he could do is just _be_ thereif it meant just sitting down doing practically _nothing _but still be surrounded by friends, right?

Of course.

Ben darted down a lengthy one-lane roadway. Down this road was a large building. Dexter's laboratory. Ben stopped at a gate where a robot stood. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his ID card and flashed it to the robot's shining red eyes.

The robot scanned it in a split second and let out a beep, opening the gate to the lab. Ben walked in instead of running. He didn't want to go up to Dexter completely out of breath.

He entered an elevator and stared at the key pad. Over sixty floors, a fair percentage were underground floors. Ben stared at the keypad of labeled buttons. What floor would he be on?

_Ah, yes, _Ben thought to himself, _the observatory. _

Ben jammed his index finger on the button labeled 'Observatory; Floor 12'. It lit up and, within seconds, the lift started its way to the destination. He felt a knot in his stomach from motion sickness, not being able to tell if the lift was going up or down. The ride lasted just for several seconds, but when the door opened Ben couldn't help but to stumble out and lean against the lift's doors when they closed.

The observatory took up the entire twelfth floor. It was all one big open room, but large tables covered in equipment acted like divider walls like an office cubical. The equipment varied from simple microscopes to high speed cameras. And it didn't take Ben long to find whom he was looking for.

Dexter McPhearson was directly across the room in the path toward the lift. His back was turned and he was leaned over, looking into an optical microscope and constantly adjusting the dials. Every so often he'd have to raise a purple gloved hand to push his glasses back up to his sky blue eyes. The only sound he emitted every now and again would be a sniffle of his nose.

Ben walked up to the man of science and stood a bit of a distance next to him. He lightly tapped his fist on the table and said, "Hey, Dex."

The knocking caused Dexter to flinch. He didn't even look up, knowing who it was by the sound of the voice and the use of his nickname. He responded, with his Russian glazed accent, "Hello, Ben."

"So," Ben started, "I heard you found a virus."

"DeeDee told you?"

"Yeah."

"I discovered three, actually."

Ben raised an eyebrow. He blinked his eyes and spoke, "You could've waited until after the party to research them, couldn't you?"

Dexter didn't reply. Of course, Dexter never seemed like the kind of guy people would see enjoying himself in a party. Ben _did, _however, recall seeing a DJ system the first day he was inside the laboratory. Because he got lost and it took him forever to find the lift; with Dexter's help, who realized Ben was scanned passed security and hadn't arrived on the master floor in over and hour and decided to go look for him.

The point is, seeing the DJ system amongst high-tech inventions sparked curiosity as to why a young scientist would have such equipment. Did he build it because he was bored or because even a genius needed to take a break every once in a while to have some fun?

That's right, because he's a _young _scientist, a _boy-_genius. He still had a child side, being only thirteen with an adult personality. That child buried inside of him would want to come out and release the stress of being locked up inside his laboratory all damn day.

A stern grunt broke the silence followed by a cough. It was Dexter. He straightened his back with an odd crackling sound coming from the midsection of his spine from staying slouched over the microscope for a long period of time. He took off his glasses and wiped the lens.

"This could be dangerous," said Dexter, pushing his specs back over his eyes. He leaned back over and looked down into the eyepieces.

"I know that," Ben answered.

"And that's why I'm not there."

Ben blinked and watched the ginger haired boy adjust the slide where, he figured, a virus was concealed. Ben inhaled and decided to direct the conversation toward the viruses themselves. "What've you found out about them so far?"

"Two of the three are stable and appear to be nothing against a healthy immune system," Dexter answered.

"What about the third bug?"

Dexter paused. "I don't know."

"Why's that?"

"I can't find it."

Ben's eyes widened and his eyebrows rose. Dexter lifted his spectacles with an index finger and thumb and lightly pinched the bridge of his nose and released a monotone whimper.

"Dex?" Ben put a hand on his shoulder, "Dex, are you alright?"

"No," he muttered. "I think it's…" He stopped mid-sentence with a gasp for breath. Dexter's breathing became wheezy and he placed his palms flat down on the table in front of him, leaning his upper body weight against his locked arms. His glasses fell back down on his nose and were kept from falling off his face thanks to the hook around his ears.

Ben became worried and rushed to help Dexter stand up straight and fall carefully into a chair closely behind him. "It's _what_, Dexter?"

"It's," Dexter's voice was suddenly hoarse. He clutched Ben's jacket and pulled him down to ear level. "It has infected me."


	2. Chapter II

Dexter released his grasp on Ben's green jacket and clutched his own lab coat over where his heart was located. Ben swallowed hard and put a hand on the boy-genius' shoulder.

"What should I do?" He asked in a hint of panic.

Dexter went to talk, but instead he suddenly erupted into seizure-like spasm attacks. His body shook and flailed uncontrollably until his weight shifted over to the right. He tumbled off the chair, forcing it to spin since the right arm rest was in the way of his fall.

Ben quickly caught the chair to a stop and shoved it out of the way. Its wheels sent it travelling a short distance before a table brought it to a halt. Ben rolled Dexter over on his back, who ceased the spasm attack almost as soon as he hit the floor. Now his eyes were sealed shut, his expression contorted to agony. Once more, Ben noticed his chest wasn't moving, therefore, wasn't breathing.

"Oh, crap," he scoffed.

Ben moved a hand under the black turtleneck collar under the two standing white collars of Dexter's lab coat. He checked for a pulse from his chronic artery. Strange, the beat felt quite normal. Just a little sped up from the sudden outburst. Ben sat back up and put a hand over Dexter's mouth and nose. He failed to feel the exhalation of breathing.

Ben gulped and adjusted the unconscious boy's head. _You can do this, Ben Tennyson, _he thought to himself. _He might die if I don't. _

He was just about to give Dexter mouth to mouth. Then he had another attack, only _much different._

Dexter broke out into fits of laughter which caused Ben to heave his head back in astonishment and confusion.

"I can't believe it!" He gasped. "You fell for it!"

"You mean to tell me this was a _joke_!?" Ben howled.

His question was answered by the continuous laughter from the boy-genius. Ben just stared with wide-eyes, not believing what just happened. Finally, bewilderment turned into anger and he snatched Dexter up by the collar of his turtle neck and forced him to a stand.

Dexter's laughter settled down some, but the grin didn't. He still flashed his teeth with an uncontrollable chuckle seeping between them. It was a joke; how _dare _he scare Ben like that. How _dare _he fake being infected by a potentially life-threatening ailment.

Ben relaxed his right hand and raised it high above his head. He jolted his arm swiftly down, striking his palm flat and cleanly across Dexter's face with the loud gruesome _THWACK _echoing off the walls of the observatory. Ben's left hand opened and down the boy-genius fell in a white and black heap on the floor.

He twitched. Dexter's eyes were wide as can be, staring at the fuzzy image that was his glasses, now resting at a distance under a table. Yes, Ben's 'revenge' strike was enough to send the four-eye's spectacles flying off his face.

And now he stood with his back turned, arms crossed, and a look of anger and disbelief. Since _when _was Dexter a prankster? This was a question that would leave Ben baffled for life. Dexter sat up and sniggered under his breath while he made his way to the desk, under which he retrieved his glasses and wiped them clean with the cloth of his lab coat draping.

Dexter coughed into his left hand, signaling the end of his laughing fit. He placed the same hand over his the left side of his face which was now throbbing with a stinging sensation of Ben's palm. And he had a good hunch that Ben's hand ached with equal pain.

"Sorry about that," said Dexter.

"There wasn't even a third virus," Ben snapped, "was there?"

"Yes there was, actually; same as the first two. I just couldn't resist."

Ben let out a stern huff with his shoulders stiffed almost up to his ears. Still, he couldn't help to let out a snort when he heard a muttered 'damn, that hurts' behind him.

Dexter dropped his hand from the side of his face, only to put it back when he felt a something still there. He looked at his purple palm and seen a dark coloured fluid smeared on his glove. Dexter took a tissue off of the table in front of him and wiped whatever it was off.

It was red. Dexter took another tissue, about to use it to clean his face off until he felt the uncontrollable urge to cough. And did, into the handkerchief, and at that instant its soft white textile was splattered with a scarlet fluid and left a bitter taste in the boy-genius' mouth.

No doubting it. It was blood. And the sight of it caused him to worry. What caused him to harked blood? Did he eat something he was allergic to? He did have trouble digesting cinnamon. But thinking back, he skipped dinner and if it _was_ in his breakfast or lunch, he would've already been in the lavatory puking blood hours ago.

On second thought, he would've lost whatever he ate. _Not _blood. And it would've been straight out propelling, rather than coughing it up. Coughing meant it was in his throat and not his stomach. The life-giving fluid meant it was something _more _than being exposed to an allergy.

"Ben," he muttered.

"Mm?" Ben moaned.

"I think," Dexter took in a quick breath, suddenly feeling a quake in his limbs. "I think something's wrong with me."

"Fool me once, Dex."

"I'm serious!"

Ben turned around just before Dexter snatched him by the collar of his jacket. For some reason, he found it funny. Dexter was only two-foot-nothing when he was six years old and now, at thirteen, he was five-foot two. _Without _his black shoes which gave him a bit elevation in height. Anyway, Ben was taller; about a head and a half.

"There's something seriously wrong wi-" he froze. Ben stared with raised eyebrows at Dexter's sudden expression of strain. "With…."

Dexter was wrong. He tried to turn away so Ben wouldn't be in his path, but failed. With a disgusting _BLEEH, _Dexter spewed crimson all on the left side of Ben's jacket, turning the green fabrics into dark purplish green.

He let out a cry of disgust and reared back when the grasp of the shorter boy was released. Ben pulled on his left sleeve to separate the drenched half from his flesh underneath. "Dude, this is new!"

Dexter didn't react. He just stood in front of Ben, lopsided, and his weight shifting back and forth, causing him to move in and out of his center of gravity. Under his glasses his eyes were blank, aimed at Ben but not focused on him. Dexter's mouth hung open and gurgled before he sputtered a light stream of blood like a whale's blowhole when breaking through the surface of the water. Though not as powerful as one, since most of the crimson fluid dribbled down his chin and stained his colourless coat.

"Dex?" Ben realized it wasn't a trick. He jumped forward to catch the sudden ailed scientist when he noticed gravity taking over.

But he missed.

And Dexter landed flat on his back with a bit of a bounce from his upper body and head, which forced blood to geyser out his mouth and knocked his specs out of place. Now he was knocked out cold but still gagged unconsciously. The top of his coat was tarnished with splotches of his own blood and droplets of scarlet on his face and spec lenses. Dexter's hair was red-orange, so truth be told that it was hard to tell, yet highly likely, that beads of blood clung to strands.

Ben dropped to his knees next to the unconscious form. He lifted Dexter's body up off the cold floor, turned him over, and held him with one arm. Dexter now faced the ground which allowed the bodily fluid to pour on out of his open mouth when necessary. With his free hand, Ben pulled out his communicator from his back pocket and flipped it open.

"Somebody, come in," he spoke into it. "This is Ben and I have an emergency situation. Please, somebody, answer me!"

Ben waited for an answer. Everyone was at a party and the music most likely drowned out his call. He gave it ten seconds before trying again.

"Do you read me? This is Ben. Someone answer me, this is an emergency!"

Dexter coughed and spilled another gram or two of blood. Ben set the communicator on the ground next to him and patted him on the back, hoping that would help in some way. He seemed to have forgotten all about the blood on the left front of his jacket and sleeve. Then again, that would be selfish to worry about his clothing.

_"Ben, where are you, boy?" _The voice was female with a hint of an attitude in her voice.

Ben was quick to retrieve the hand radio and answered, "Numbah Five! I'm on floor twelve in Dexter's lab."

"_What happened in there?"_

"I'm not sure," he replied. "Dexter's throwing up blood. He's out cold right now, but-"

_"Don't worry, Ben," _said Numbah Five, cutting off Ben. _"We'll get there as soon as possible. Just keep him steady."_

"Right," Ben nodded.

Numbah Five said nothing else. Ben put the hand radio back on the floor, being left to wait for help in the middle of a chilly room with a blood vomiting Dexter leaned over his arm. He just hoped they wouldn't be too late.


	3. Chapter III

Ben looked up when he heard the sound of the lift going back up to the lobby. In a matter of minutes it would return with passengers. Ben took the time to set Dexter on a clean area on the floor, on his back. He stopped coughing about five minutes ago, but his breathing was still rapid. In a way, he resembled a vampire who all an all-nighter, biting necks and drinking the scarlet fluids. Of course the blood in question was his own.

It had taken fifteen minutes before anyone arrived. And here came the lift, coming from the main floor that was above the observatory level. Now Ben knew he was on an underground floor.

DeeDee was the first one out the lift when the doors opened. It was obvious that she would come after learning about her little brother being sick. She was already knelt down next to Dexter's cold form when Numbah Five and Numbah One arrived.

"So," started Numbah Five, "what happened?"

"I'm not sure," stuttered Ben. "He threw up blood on my jacket and passed out. He didn't wake up since then, but he kept coughing blood up in his sleep until a few minutes ago."

Numbah One was down on one knee, checking Dexter's vitals. He was glaring through his sunglasses as though he didn't like the condition. He stood up when he was done, straightened his red sweater, and said, "His pulse rate is high and he seems to be having hard time breathing. Also, he has a fever."

"If there's an infirmary in this lab," Numbah Five spoke, "I recon we better get Dex there now. Who's going to carry him?"

Before anyone could say anything, Ben raised his hand and said, "I already have his blood on my shirt. I'll carry Dex."

DeeDee moved out of the way to allow Ben to carefully tuck one arm under Dexter's arms and the other under the back of his knees. Ben flattened one foot on the floor and forced himself to stand, cradling the unconscious boy-genius in his arms. Unfortunately, it sudden jerks of his body forced up a burp-ish cough and sent a light flow of blood down the right side Ben's jacket.

"Uhg," scoffed Ben. "Gross."

Numbah One raised an eyebrow while DeeDee and Numbah Five sniggered at the look on Ben's face. "Let's get him to the infirmary," said Numbah One. "He might need a blood transfusion after loosing so much."

---

Ten minutes later Ben was slouched back in a chair in the waiting room. The infirmary was on level two, just above the main lobby of the lab. Ben still had a problem with the lift. The one lift in particular. Dexter had designed it to in a tube-like fashion and, instead of a pulley system to take it up and down; it traveled with some sort of energy force.

It was okay the first time he was on the elevator. Then, when he learned that it wasn't connected to any cables, Ben felt a great deal of motion sickness every time he went in. He didn't know how it _really _worked. Ben asked Dexter once why he designed it like that, but the scientific explanation was like another language to him.

But no one's reading this to know about the lift, right? Thought so.

Dexter was in a back room being scanned from head to toe. Blood samples were taken just before he was given a transfusion. Numbah One had left a few minutes ago when the medic-bot announced that Dexter would be fine.

Numbah Five was staying until he woke up. She wasn't the type of person to leave as soon as they found out it would be alright. They can't predict the future. Dexter's health could take a sudden turn for the worse. Of course Numbah Five didn't want that to happen; she just wanted to make sure.

DeeDee was sat next to Numbah Five. She looked nervous and held onto Dexter's glasses. She loved her brother so much and didn't want anything to happen to him. That's one of the reasons she would be a constant 'pest' to Dexter when he was only six. She ran through his laboratory each and everyday, messing up his experiments and sometimes blowing the entire lab up where he would have to rebuild it all over again, all so she could be close to her little genius-of-a-brother. And she thought his lab was 'awesome'.

Ben opened his eyes and let out a yawn. On the counter in front of him was a clock that read half past ten. The entire infirmary itself was quite large. But since there was a hospital not far from the laboratory, it wasn't really given enough attention to by a certain genius. It was still hi-tech, in a way. The medic bots were programmed to give the right amount of medication when due, give IV treatments, wrap bandaging, and so on. Though Dexter would prefer to wrap his own arm if he ever had a chemical burn.

There weren't very many rooms for the reason of the close-by hospital. About five; two on the wall at Ben's right side and at his left. Directly in his path of sight was a big door with no windows anywhere, and that's where Dexter was. The room was used for x-rays, MRI scans, and other medical procedures that required isolation from the waiting room.

Almost on cue the big door opened and a medic-bot wheeled out after the three that waited for the patient's results. Numbah Five stood up when the bot stopped in front of her. It bleeped with words darting across its screen-of-a-face and printed out a sheet of paper from the slit-of-a-mouth. Numbah Five took it from the robot, allowing it to wheel off back into the room.

"What does it say?" DeeDee asked.

Numbah Five held up her index finger, signaling she was still reading. She turned around to face DeeDee and Ben and said, "It says here Dexter has a virus of some sort and the blood he was throwing up was his immune system trying to extract it from himself."

"Woah, woah, wait, woah!" shouted Ben. "You mean the bug is in the blood?"  
"Pretty much."  
At that moment he took off his jacket. "I'm burning this."

"Does it say anything else?" asked DeeDee.

Numbah Five looked back at the sheet. She scanned through its contents before replying, "Just they gave him antibiotics to help fight it."

"Wait," Ben paused. "Is he… awake?"

Ben asked because of what came out of the door. It was Dexter, slumped in a wheelchair being pushed by a medic-bot, his head tilted over. He was obviously _not _awake. His face was clean from the blood he coughed up while on his back. His eyes were sealed shut and were without glasses. Dexter's clothes were replaced with pajama-like attire; a white, short-sleeved button up shirt with grey stripes with slacks to match.

He was taken to a room where DeeDee followed with Numbah Five trailing behind her and Ben doing likewise. Dexter was picked up and gently placed on a bed where a medic-bot carefully slid an IV needle into a vein in his arm.

"How long do you think it'll be before he wakes up?" questioned Ben, asking what was on everyone's mind.

The robot answered, in its monotone voice, "Subject should wake in a few hours. If not, more. Subject is still ill and might emit more blood in sleep. Subject should be fine in a day or two."

And it left the room, taking the wheelchair with it.


	4. Chapter IV

Sometime while the night grew heavy, Ben has passed out on the couch with an arm folded over his face to block the light in the room from shining into his eyes. At one point Numbah Five found a blanket under the hospital bed and put it over Ben. She figured that, since he ditched his blood covered jacket in a biohazard disposal, that he'd be cold. Now she sat in a chair next to DeeDee who was, of course, at her brother's bedside.

Dexter had been sound asleep with a blanket up to his collar line. Once in a while, he would let out a small moan which kept DeeDee on high alert. The medic-bot claimed he might spit up blood in his sleep, so the worried sister stood by with a cloth incase that happened.

The clock just outside the door clicked over the twelfth digit and rang out a loud chime, signaling midnight. The rhythmic beat startled Ben awake and he tumbled over the side the couch onto the floor. Numbah Five and DeeDee sniggered lightly while he bolted to a stand and shut the door of the infirmary room.

Even though the door was closed semi-quietly, the figure in the bed stirred in his sleep. Ben flinched when he heard a familiar cough and he turned around to see DeeDee holding a cloth over Dexter's mouth.

"Did I wake him?" Ben asked. He moved up closer to the left bedside, the opposite side of which DeeDee and Numbah Five was at.

DeeDee shook her head and replied, "No, he's still out of himself." She looked into Dexter's open mouth. No blood.

"The clock probably startled him too," continued Numbah Five.

True, he _did _hear it. Since almost two hours passed after being emitted to the infirmary, according to the medic-bots, he should've been waking up already. And thanks to the sounds he came closer to consciousness.

In fact, Dexter's eyes cracked open. Without his glasses, the blonde-haired girl dressed in pink that was his sister in his path of sight was just a fuzzy blob. And the light didn't help, either, since he was used to the mental darkness of unconsciousness.

And, before anyone could react, he fell back into it.

"Poor boy," sighed Numbah Five. "He's must be wiped out to pass out that fast."

Ben grunted and responded, "Let's take this as an example. I'm tired."

**---**

The window of Dexter's temporary room faced east so, as the sun came up, the light glistened in. It was above his bed and the warm sensation of the morning shine caused his eyes to twitch. He unconsciously turned his head to face the nightstand so the light wouldn't disturb his dreams.

Gently, the door of the room was pushed open and a long ginger haired girl wearing a pinkish red uniform slipped in. She noticed only two in the room; Dexter, the bedridden boy-genius and DeeDee, sleeping with her head rested in her folded arms on the side of the bed.

She walked over to her and lightly shook DeeDee's arm. "DeeDee…"

"Mm?" she muttered. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"

"It's about seven in the morning."

DeeDee looked up at the girl and registered her face. "Blossom, hi," she looked around the room. "Where are Numbah Five and Ben?"

"Just outside the door there," said Blossom. "Abigail said she didn't want to wake you."

"Ah," she muttered, still sleepy.

Blossom blinked her eyes and sat down next to her. While DeeDee was still waking herself up, Blossom looked around the room. It was designed quite similar to that of a regular room in the hospital with a sink in one corner and monitors in another. It was obvious that, compared to the _rest _of the laboratory, that Dexter didn't put much of his scientific knowledge into enhancing the technology; except for the medic-bots, of course.

On the nightstand were Dexter's clothes, folded neatly and stacked aligned. His glasses rested over the pair of purple gloves that sat on the folded lab coat, which was now clean from blood stains. The coat's matching white belt had slipped off and onto the floor sometime ago.

Dexter twitched and snapped his left arm up to his face. The sudden movement caused DeeDee to flinch and Blossom to jump.

The young scientist woke in a daze, unaware that the arm he moved had an IV needle in a vein. _Had_ an IV needle in a vein. It was yanked out of place and trickled blood down his arm.

"Oh hell," he muttered. The pain throbbed through his arm when he seen the blood, despite his vision being hazy.

DeeDee blinked her eyes and said, "Good morning, little brother. How're you feeling?"

Dexter flinched when he felt a hand touch his left arm. He could've sworn DeeDee's voice came from his right side. But he figured it obvious that she wouldn't have been the only one with him.

Dexter didn't answer his sister's question. Instead he reached with his free hand to his spectacles which were helpfully handed to him by DeeDee. He flipped them open and slid them on over his ocean blue eyes and realized Blossom was the one tending to the wound with a bandage she retrieved from a supply drawer across the room.

DeeDee asked again, "How're you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess," responded Dexter. He pushed himself to sit up some when the Powerpuff was finished with his arm. "What happened anyway?"

"Let's see," started Ben, who just so happened to walk in, "You had a fake seizure, I slapped you acrossed the face, you threw up blood on my jacket, passed out, blah, blah, and now you're here."

"Fake seizure," Numbah Five repeated. "You didn't tell me that part."

"The dumbass decided it'd be…"

"I mean," Dexter interrupted Ben, "what happened when you got me here. And I'm not a dumbass, dumbass."

"Oh, that," Ben paused. "Hey!"

DeeDee and Blossom were cognizant. However, they just sat there, listening to the conversation between the suddenly lively Dexter and Ben. DeeDee didn't know for sure what was wrong. Just his immune system was making his throw up blood to get rid of the virus. Actually, that _was _what was wrong, but she didn't know how to word it, as simple as it'd be. And Blossom just got there. She didn't know it herself.

"You're immune system was forcing you to cough up blood," Numbah Five said, "to get rid of a virus."

"How do you feel now?" DeeDee asked again.

Dexter blinked and said, "I said I'm fine, DeeDee."

"Are you sure? You still look pale."

Dexter waved his hand to shoo his sister's away from his face. DeeDee continued her attempt to check her brother for a fever, only to get an annoyed slap transversely on the hand. Somehow it turned into a sibling rivalry slap fight that initiated a laughing fit from the other three visitors.

Seconds after the fight started, it stopped when Dexter was pulled back. There was a palm over his forehead and another on the right side of his face, and the sudden capture cause him to freeze, arms still locked in the air. The action didn't startle him, just who did it.

"Nope," announced Blossom. "No fever."

"I'm guessing I had a temperature before," said Dexter, lowering his arms.

"Yep," answered Numbah Five.

"I see," Dexter paused. "You can let me go now, please?"

Blossom released the boy-genius and quickly slipped back into her chair. Her face went a light shade of pink with a bit of embarrassment.

"You seem to be all better, Dex," said Ben when he seen how easily Dexter was able to sit up straight. Not counting the fact his left arm had a bandage due to the yanked out needle.

"I…" Dexter froze and crooked his jaw out of place. He put a hand over his mouth and bowed his head just as he let out a small gross burp which sent a stream of blood seeping through his fingers. Drops of scarlet stained the pallid bed sheet.

DeeDee jumped and retrieved a cloth from the bedside table. She handed it to her brother who took it with his non-bloody hand and held it over his mouth. The cloth quickly went from white to red due to Dexter holding most of the crimson fluid in his mouth.

"I guess I jinxed it," Ben muttered.


	5. Chapter V

Unlike last time, Dexter was still awake. He had a look of disgust from the bitter taste of his own blood forcing itself up his esophagus. DeeDee helped with handkerchiefs so the scarlet fluid wouldn't stain on anything but.

"I'll go get a medical bot," announce Numbah Five.

"No!" shouted Dexter. He had a cloth held over his mouth while he talked. "No, I'm fine." He removed the cloth to clean the blood off his chin. "I think it stopped."

"You don't seem worried," said Blossom.

By force of bodily actions, the boy-genius swallowed down the blood that was still in his mouth. He gritted it teeth in repulsion, relaxed his jaws, and said, "I don't feel like I did before. Like Numbah Five said, my immune system is fighting the virus off, so I'm getting better. Besides," he gapped, "I'm worried if it's contagious."

When Dexter said that, everyone's eyes turned to Ben who flinched at the sudden directed attention. He shifted his head and asked a simple, "What?"

"And how do _you _feel?" questioned DeeDee.

Ben blinked. "Uh," he started, "cold. Really, I don't feel sick or anything."

"I didn't either," Dexter claimed. "You could be infected and not even know it."

"Oh," Ben muttered. "Shit."

"Yeah."

Ben just stood there, arms crossed over his chest, staring blankly at the wall. He didn't want to end up like Dexter throwing up blood and blacking out.

"But we won't know until I do more tests," said Dexter. "Leave, I'm going back to the observatory."

"Are you sure you're okay to leave the infirmary?" asked Blossom.  
"Sure I am," he answered. "I didn't feel like fainting that last time. Stop worrying. I'm alright."

"If you say so, Dex," said Numbah Five. "Keep in touch. We'd like to know what you learn."

"Yeah, my life might depend on it," griped Ben.

**-------**

They were the first two to leave. Only Numbah Five, however, left the laboratory. She was heading back to the Kids Next Door tree house while Ben stood just outside of the lab with a soft drink. Blossom headed for the main lobby of the lab and DeeDee was nowhere in sight.

Dexter hooked his coat belt around his waist and fixed his collar. He had thrown the loose fitting pajama-like attire in a hamper that was hidden in a cabinet under the sink. He stomped a foot down to fix the position of the sole of his shoe before opening the door and walking out.

He headed to the lift, only to be stopped when a pair of arms wrapped around his neck from behind and scared the hell out of him.

"Hi, Dexter!" shouted DeeDee.

Dexter took a moment to wait for the pounding in his chest to slow down before forcing her arms off around his neck. He spun around and jabbed a finger up in her face with a stern, "DeeDee!"

"Yes?"

He paused and raised an eyebrow. He smiled and lowered his arm to his side. "Big sister," he said, "why don't you come with me?"

"Okay," responded DeeDee with a smile.

Dexter led his sister into the lift and pressed the floor twelfth button and, before DeeDee followed him in, a second one.

"I'm glad you're back to normal, Dex," said DeeDee.

"Yeah," muttered Dexter, "right."

Blossom heard the hum of the lift travelling down from the floor just above the lobby she was in. She flinched and turned around just in time to see DeeDee being shoved out of the open door followed by the familiar Russian accented, "Get out of my la_bora_tory!"

DeeDee quickly scurried up to a stand and spun around to see her brother just before the elevator doors closed. She could've _sworn _Dexter used his _middle _finger to push his glasses up to his eyes. Then again, he always seemed to be giving someone the bird when he would bring his spectacles back up over his eyes. It was either by accident or on purpose. It was quite humourous, since Dexter would have a fiendish grin if it was on purpose. And indeed, he was grinning this time.

"Yep," DeeDee recessed, "He's alright, alright."

In the lift, Dexter had only about five seconds to ponder before the doors opened to the observatory. He had thought back on his symptoms before he finally passed out.

He didn't feel the blood shoot up out of his mouth at the first cough. The second, the flavour of bitter blood seemed to have triggered a chain reaction through his body. Dexter felt weak trembles in his joints that, if it wasn't for the scarlet fluid, would've diagnosed him with hunger for skipping dinner.

This is all he had time to think back to before the doors opened to the chilly room that was the observatory.

Just as it was left with the supplies scattered here and there, but were still organized. Straight ahead was the little area he was before the virus struck him. A chair on wheels that was shoved out of its original place, a microscope with its light still on, and dried blood on the ground.

_I'm worried if it's contagious, _repeated in his head and he took it as a biohazard warning.

There was a tin metal box on a table next to the lift. Inside were goggles that Dexter could wear without taking off his specs and a mask that went over his mouth and nose. It wasn't like the ones surgeons would use. Upon exhaling, those masks would keep most of the carbon dioxide to be inhaled back into the system rather than oxygen. Dexter's design was different; transparent rather than solid white and had a small opening with a filter that allowed carbon dioxide out and purified oxygen when coming in.

He was a well prepared lad, knowing how to take care of himself in situations like this. He walked up to the large blood stain on the floor and knelt down. The boy-genius took out a cotton swap he got off a table and ran it along the blot, almost undisturbed by the fact the blood was his own.

Of course, it was for science. The way Numbah Five explained it, as simple as it was, Dexter knew the virus was in the blood he lost. And thanks to the transfusions, the donated blood actually his _own, _that he had drained from his own veins to store incase of such emergencies_,_ the virus was pretty much out of his system.

Dexter stood up and walked around the large stain on the floor. He flicked off the microscope that was left on all through the night and unplugged it to exchange for another so he wouldn't wear down his equipment. He stroked the blood sample on a slide and slipped it under the lenses of the scope and peered down the eyepiece.

The content was dark red and black mixed. Zooming in Dexter could see the shriveled and died blood cells along with the culprit, a dark orange sphere with withered tentacle-like follicles latched onto multiple cells at the same time.

"They're inactive," said Dexter aloud. "Maybe if they're heated…"

Dexter picked out a shiny steel pen in a cup not far from the desk. It was a laser pointer, only produced by DexLabs so it was different. He meant to have made just a simple laser pointer just _for the hell of it_, but due to a miscalculation in the diode, it generated heat upon impact. Dexter found this out during testing it and singed a hole in his purple gloved palm, making him quite thankful he wore them.

Dexter took out the slide and ran the laser back and forth over its surface a couple times. He quickly returned it back under the scope and looked into it, only to be disappointed.

"Still inactive," he muttered. "It must be dead. A one time only disease, by the looks of it." Dexter lifted his goggles over his forehead. "But it has to spawn somehow to get from host to host." He paused. "Where the bloody hell was I when I was infected?"

With that said Dexter turned off and unplugged the microscope and headed to the lift, thoroughly cycling through his memory to where he was in the past few days when gathering samples. Wondering where he could've picked up the disease, how and when.

Just as the double lift doors opened Dexter turned and called out, "Computress."

"Yes, Dexter?" answered a female voice.

"While I am gone I want the observatory decontaminated."

"Yes, Dexter."

The boy-genius took a backwards step into the lift with his arms tucked behind his back. "Good," he said with a hand raised to the keypad, thus closing the entrance.


	6. Chapter VI

Blossom and DeeDee watched the lift open up into the lobby. They had been sitting on the couch talking to each other for the past while, and now they were brought to a silent, lengthy pause when Dexter had stepped in.

His expression looked blank with his filter breathing mask hung around his neck rather than over his mouth. The goggles were off and in his clutched right hand along with a sky blue strap attached to a bag he got from NASA, slung and held over his right shoulder.

"Hey, Dexter," said Blossom.

Dexter stopped mid step and looked over at them. He hadn't seen the two girls when he walked out of the lift because he was too deep in thought. "Oh, you're still here?"

"Where you off to?" asked DeeDee.

"I'm locking my laboratory," he said, though not answering the question.

DeeDee hopped up to a stand when Dexter continued walking. Blossom did likewise and followed them out.

Ben was staring at the ID scanning robot sitting at the gate just outside of the lab. It was simply built with a cylinder shaped head. Its mouth was a red glowing glass casing that scanned ID cards in a single second. Its eyes were cameras so it would catch those who decided to steal someone else's ID in attempts to infiltrate the laboratory.

Only Dexter knew about the cameras, of course. Which is why Ben stood across the small walk way with a distance between him and the robot; because there's was something _alive _about it that he couldn't put his finger on. That paranoid feeling was the fact that, technically, the robot stared right back at him.

His concentration broke at the sound of the automatic doors sliding open. Ben shifted his head in the direction to see Dexter, DeeDee, and Blossom walking out. The boy-genius turned to the keypad next to the doors and hit several buttons then slid his identification card down the scanner slit to confirm it. On cue the door clicked shut and a metal wall fell down over the outside to protect the lab from being broken into.

"Done researching already?" asked Ben.

Dexter had taken his wallet out of his bag to slip his ID card back into it when Ben asked that. He looked at the digital screen of the keypad where, conveniently, the time and date showed. "It's only been thirty minutes."  
"Still," said Blossom. "What'd you learn?"

"Nothing, really," replied Dexter. He dropped his wallet back in his bag and took out a key hooked to a belt clip. "I'm going back to where I found the first three viruses," he explained, "to locate where I was infected. If you want to come, you need to be prepared."

"Are we walking?" asked Ben.

"No."

"In that case, I call shotgun!"

**--------**

Dexter kicked a tyre of the vehicle he pointed out to check its air pressure. It was sturdy like it was supposed to be. The truck itself was large and, in a way, resembled an ambulance. The paint was a mix of white and digital current blue with 'DexLabs' printed in black on the sides with its infinity logo next to it.

The front consisted of the driver's seat, passenger seat, and an opening in the middle that leaded to the back. The rear was full of storage shelves and was similar to a recreational vehicle, only without stoves, sinks, couches, and etcetera. It wasn't as long as an RV, though.

Doors were in the back, but Blossom and DeeDee got in by the passenger's side and going through the opening. Dexter jumped into the driver's seat, lifted the right arm rest, and followed them with Ben right behind.

"Alright," Dexter opened a cabinet and took out white plastic wrapped, what looked like, clothing and passed them out. "These are lightweight antibacterial uniforms. They will protect your skin from any hazardous chemical." He coughed into his palm before adding, "Except lava. But it's not like we're going under Mojo Jojo's lair."

DeeDee took out the white jacket and jokingly asked, "Do these come in pink?"

"Oivey," her brother groaned. He ignored what DeeDee said and turned his back and begun a slow pace in search for something.

During Dexter's search, Ben had put on the white jacket and pants over the clothes he was already wearing. They were loose fitting, so it didn't take more than half a minute to put them on. And they had boots and gloves to match, but Ben didn't sport those yet. DeeDee and Blossom decided to wait before changing.

Dexter took out a silver box and opened it. Inside were large gun-like machines with a lens at the exit of the barrel. Inside of the cask were series of sensors and program chips that led to the monitor at the top of the machine. The screen showed everything like a video camera, but in black and white. The trigger took a still picture like a Polaroid. It'd even print out the picture like one. And finally, of course, 'DexLabs' printed on its handle.

"This is a microbe scan device," said Dexter upon turning to face the three. "It'll detect the locations of microorganisms in colour keys. What we're looking for is orange. If you see any, pull the trigger here once and it'll store an image. Push it twice simultaneously and it'll print the picture, which I don't want done." Dexter let out another cough against his shoulder. "Any questions?"

Ben raised his hand. "Where _are _we going, anyway?"

"Townsville Park, Genius Groove, and Sector V."

Blossom was next to raise her hand. "You're coughing."

"I hadn't noticed," there was a rhythm of sarcasm in the young scientist's voice. "Probably something left behind in my throat. It'll pass."

"If you say so," said DeeDee.

"I say so." Dexter set down his invention on a table and opened a drawer under it and took out a pair of goggles and filter masks. "You'll also need these. I'm not sure how the virus enters the body yet, so here's facial protection." He set the safety glasses and mask on the table and headed to the driver's seat. "We're leaving now."

**--------**

The truck glided smoothly on the road to the speed limit. Ben got his claim of shotgun, but hung onto his safety belt because of who was driving next to him. Of course Dexter was a _genius, _but there was something about him driving that worried Ben.

And Ben finally asked, "Aren't you a little too _young_?"

"I'm thirteen," snapped Dexter.

"You're not even old enough to have a permit. What if a cop pulls us over?"

Dexter took his eyes off the road for moment to look at Ben. He gave him a five second stare. "Shall we find out?"

"No!" Ben hollered. He pointed frantically to the windshield. "Watch the road!"

DeeDee stuck her head in, now fully dressed in the white clothing. Her goggles were over her eyes and the mouth cover around her neck like Dexter's. "Are we there yet?"

"No. Get back to your seat, DeeDee," demanded her brother.

"Make me."

Dexter hit the breaks, forcing DeeDee to fall forward on the floor. She barely missed getting a bruised forehead from the stick shift. An angry car behind blared its horns and swerved around the DexLabs vehicle, just _barely _missing rear ending the larger truck. DeeDee scurried to her feet and sat on the bench right behind the passenger seat next to Blossom who giggled at the incident.

"You're a madman, Dex," scowled Ben. He stroked the skin of his hand above the Omnitrix since the sudden brake snapped his left hand off his seatbelt and sent a throb of pain when the back of his hand hit the base of the alien watch.

Dexter had no response. Instead he directed the subject with, "Blossom, do you think Professor Utonium would be okay with you coming along?"

Before Blossom could answer, someone cut her off. "You should be worried if Buttercup finds out," laughed Ben. "She'd kick your ass for bringing her sister on a possible dangerous mission."

"About that," Dexter started, "what about your grandpa?"

Ben paused. The only ones who knew that he left the party the night before were Numbah One, Numbah Five, Dexter, DeeDee, and Blossom. Maybe word got out about the boy-genius' sudden ailment after the two KND operatives left, but did anyone else know he was with him? Ben was suddenly overflowed with thoughts of his grandpa, Gwen, and Kevin running around the streets in search for the missing brunette.

Ben swallowed down the frog in his throat. "Do you have a cell phone? I want to call and let them know."

Dexter took a brief glance up at the visor. He took his right hand off the gear shift and swiped a flip phone out of the little slip and darted it to Ben's hand, who juggled the phone in his palms due to not being prepared for being handed it so fast. Ben flipped it open and ran his thumbs over several digits and hit send.

No outgoing ring tone.

"Hey, there's no signal," said Ben.

"Because this truck has a layer of tin," said the boy-genius.

Ben closed the phone with his eyes showing no amusement. "You could have said that before."

"Just wait until we get to Townsville Park."

Ben set the mobile phone in the dash and slouched in his chair. Blossom took the fallen silence as her chance to ask, "Can I use the phone too when we get there?"

"Of course," answered Dexter.

**--------**

The truck signaled a right turn and drove into a parking lot. Its gears shifted into park and locked its wheels so it would go nowhere. The rear's double doors swung open and out jumped the red-orange haired scientist with his goggles and filter mask on, followed by DeeDee, Blossom, and Ben. Unlike the three, Dexter was wearing his regular lab coat, black pants, and shoes. A man walking his dog near by almost fell over from a heart attack, thinking they were aliens or some kind of conspiracy. When he realized they weren't, he just stood there watching with his dog barking.

"Excuse me, sir," shouted Dexter with a raise of his hand. "This area is under quarantine by orders of DexLabs. Please leave."

And the man did just that with a look over his shoulder ever now and then to see what was going on while he left.

DeeDee looked out into the park while adjusting her goggles. "It doesn't look like there's anyone else here."

The young scientist handed his sister a microbe scanner device and turned his back to retrieve two more for Ben and Blossom. "Either they're in the hospital from coughing up blood or they're still in their houses asleep- or just waking up- because of the celebration last night." Dexter looked over his shoulder to see Ben bickering into the cellular while Blossom patiently waited her turn. He looked back down into the casing. "And by Einstein's ghost, I hope it's the latter."


	7. Chapter VII

**A/N: **I'll take this time to say it now: These first eight chapters are somewhat slow compared to the rest. I'm on chapter ten at the moment.  
Happy reading~.

* * *

The brunette closed the cellular which meant the end to his call. Ben turned around and handed the phone to Blossom and walked around her toward Dexter. The Powerpuff took this as her turn to call the professor.

Ben was looked over Dexter's shoulder that shivered in paranoia. The redhead growled, "Get out of my personal space."

"Sorry." Ben leaned back and he noticed Dexter's head tweaking upwards some. He fumbled his thumbs together patiently while a series of wires were being untangled inside one of the gun-like scan devices. Hey, not every invention would be perfect.

And with a _click _of metal closing together, Dexter turned around and offered Ben Tennyson the machine who took it with a hint of glee. But when he seen the boy-genius with his face protection, Ben remembered the nakedness of his own face and dug into his pocket with his free right hand to retrieve his mask and goggles. Ben attempted to put them on with just the one hand, which proved futile and got the attention of the smaller boy in front of him.

Dexter turned and gazed at Ben with the goggle's strap caught under his left ear. "What _are _you doing?"

"Getting ready to go see My Bloody Valentine in 3D," he answered sarcastically. "Would you help me?"

"Since you asked so nicely," Dexter returned the cynicism.

The young scientist reached up and released the taller boy's ear from the elastic band of the eyewear. Dexter took off the goggles completely to straighten the strip and slid it back over Ben's head. At such the opportunity, the child hidden deeply within Dexter couldn't resist to take over to allow the goggles to snap over Ben's eyes with a stinging pain chewing around his lids.

Ben yelped. "Mother!"

"Sorry, that's my bad."

"You ass hat!"

"Your insult vocabulary amazes me."

Ben put the bulky machine down on the flooring of the DexLabs truck that Dexter was using as a table. He quickly put the filter cover over his mouth and nose. After that stunt, the russet-haired teen didn't trust the boy he would jokingly call a _mad scientist, _since he now had accounts to back up that title.

Blossom walked up from behind Dexter and gave him a poke on the shoulder. When he turned around she returned his cell phone and said, "The professor said he's going to head on over to your lab and wait."

Dexter took the phone and gave it a gentle toss into his truck. He didn't care if it broke or not; he had more. "Did you tell him everything that's going on?"

"Not _everything_."

Dexter raised his brows and blinked his eyes. "I see. It might be a couple hours before we get back."

Ben slid between the two, holding the scanning device like a real gun as though he was entering war again. "I call scanning the front of the park!"

Just as his legs began to send him sprinting off, Ben was nearly choked by his own jacket collar when purple clad hand gripped down on the back of the neck. Of course, being light in weight from skipping out on meals 'for the sake of science', Dexter was yanked off balance until he made the quick decision to let go of the stronger male.

"No horse play, Benjamin Tennyson," he said as soon as he found his center of gravity. The reason for his demand was because the _front_ of the park was the children's playground.

"I know," huffed Ben. He quickly added, "_Dad_."

Dexter let go of the brunette. Ben began walking with the rifle lookalike propped on his shoulder. That didn't last long when a stern Russian drawl ran up behind him, "And be careful with _my _equipment!" Ben obeyed. "It's fragile!" And mocked Dexter with his hand imitating a mouth; a ventriloquist puppet.

Dexter growled under his breath. "Incomprehensible brained adolescent."

"Excuse me?" asked Blossom.

"Oh sorry, I meant Ben."

"I know," the Powerpuff stated. "What area of the park do you want me to check out?"

Dexter looked to the open gate before turning his back to give his attention to the shining metal casing in his truck. He took out one of the machines and adjusted the monitor on the back. He turned around to Blossom. "Remember how I explained this?"

"Yes," she answered when offered the mechanism.

"Good, good," he said. Dexter aimed a purple clad hand to the entrance of Townsville Park. "Ben's taking the North wing, which is right up front. DeeDee's taking the West side and you can head over to the East or South."

"I'll go East."

"Okay," responded the boy-genius. He rotated on his heels and took out his own scanner device. He lifted an arm and swung the truck door shut. "Remember, it's orange."

Everyone walked their selective areas over, aiming the devices like guns to the ground, trees, benches, and skies. They've been in the park for only fifteen minutes with hope of finding the virus looking dim. Actually, Dexter's hope thrived on _not _finding the virus. He didn't want to lock down and quarantine Townsville Park and prevent friends and families from meeting up with each other. It was Thursday. Tomorrow was Friday. He was absolutely _certain_ that, if he was required to isolate the park from the rest of the world, he would receive complaints from those angered by the sudden cancelation of their get-togethers.

Selfish bastards; caring only for their personal plans and not the health of others.

So far it seemed as though Townsville Park was clean. Dexter wasn't contaminated there. He did, however, spot a splotch of light blue on his monitor on a bench. The colour of the bug that caused the common cold. And he took a picture anyway. Just because he wanted to. For the name of science. And the list of excuses went on.

And the young scientist recognized the time of day by the position of the sun. Between eight and nine in the morning. A nice chill in the wind thanks to the lake on the East side.

It was this that caused his mind to flourish with questions. _Did the disease evacuate depending on the temperature? Was it weak against sun light and evacuated during the day? Did it _grow _in the sunlight? _Dexter definitely watched too much SciFi. _Did it prefer wet areas? Was it carried by birds? By fish? Could it get into exposed food? _Dexter had actually stopped walking completely to ponder thoroughly. _Was it airborne or did it enter the skin upon contact? Did it leave internal abrasions that could be found in an autopsy? And what the hell would it do if it wasn't _forced _out of the body by throwing up the contaminated blood?_

All this contemplating came to a sudden halt. Dexter's concentration snapped in two like the twig he had stepped on several paces back. His eardrums rattled and his heart rate kicked up by the abrupt, high pitch scream in the distance.

The redhead swerved his body around, ignoring the fact his machine had scrapped against a tree.

"Blossom!"


	8. Chapter VIII

**A/N: **To the Dexter mobile! ::shot::

* * *

DeeDee darted through the playground area in attempts to follow the sound of the scream. She was quicker to respond than Ben, who had waited until the end of the scream to start running. They ran side by side, throwing swings out of their way and jumping over the occasional seesaw. All while keeping a safe grip on the DexLabs machine.

They finally made it to the East wing of the Townsville Park and weren't surprised that Dexter arrived just as they did. All three winded out, but not as bad as the boy-genius who wasn't used to bursts of energy.

"Where's Blossom?" asked DeeDee after a big gasp.

"Blossom," Ben echoed. "I thought that scream was Dexter's."

"This is no time for your stupid witticisms, Benjamin!" snarled Dexter. He turned around and looked about the edge of the lake. "Blossom, where are you?"

DeeDee gave Ben an elbow in the forearm and joined her little brother in the call outs. "Blossom!"

Ben grunted. The only time 'Benjamin' was used was if he was in trouble or the user was angry or being a wiseass. Sometimes he'd run into a 'formal', who refused to call anyone by a nickname. Ben was Benjamin, Dave was David, Will was William. You get the picture.

The boy-genius ditched his machine on a picnic table a few sidewalks back. Dexter shifted his goggles to his forehead and removed his glasses to clean them. Perspiration from the running caused his spectacles to fog. He quickly put his eyewear back on and started walking.

DeeDee gave Ben the burden of finding a safe place to set their microorganism scanning devices before she trailed after Dexter. Ben just put them on a walkway.

After a moment Dexter spotted a white spot in the distance along the lake's edge. "There she is."

DeeDee ran ahead of her little brother who sprinted closely behind. Ben took off after them, trying to catch up since he was a distance away. It didn't take much to tail them. Well, Dexter. The poor boy was less athletic than any of them. Dexter could run reasonably fast for a few seconds before his lungs and joints began to ache and force him to stop and fall on his back in the dirt to catch his breath. Most of his exercise came from cranking a monkey wrench or lifting pipes while building the latest in DexLabs technology.

Blossom had fallen on her backside. Her upper body held up with her right arm and her left hand over her masked mouth. Under her safety glasses, the Powerpuff's pink eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

"Blossom!" It was DeeDee. She froze right behind her.

Dexter caught up with Ben right next to him. "Holy mother of Einstein."

Ben shivered. "Good God."

Veins and arteries drained of it's rich fluid had turned a human male's flesh a sickly pale colour. His clothes were casual; a white t-shirt under a dark blue jacket, wearing blue jeans and black shoes. He was face down in the dirt, his head crooked with wide, dry eyes staring at Blossom. Blood stained his nose, mouth, and all around face and stretched along the grass like morning dew. And even gave the water near the shore of the lake a light coating of light red.

You didn't have to be a genius to see the flies crawling into the nostrils and diagnose the unfortunate human with _death._

"Uhg," Ben scoffed. "I can smell it through my mask."

Ignoring the smell completely, Dexter stepped forward. Blossom stayed on the ground, still traumatized by the sudden find of a dead body. And she winced at the sight of Dexter lifting the dead man's arm by the wrist. The joints cracked in response and the mildly stiff fingers slowly drooped downwards.

"He hasn't been dead for very long," said the boy-genius. "Rigor mortis is just setting in."

"He died at precisely 3:27AM today."

That peculiar accent was all too familiar to everyone. Only four had come to the park, but _that _was a fifth. And hearing the sudden addition amongst the count almost caused them to have a heart attack in fear as they spun around to face the skeleton in a black robe. This caused Blossom to dart up to a stand and DeeDee to hide behind the nearest human figure; Ben.

"I'm too young to die!" shouted Ben.

"Relax, Tennyson," said Grim with a raise of a boney hand. "It's not your time. _Yet._"

"Then why _are _you here?" quizzed Dexter. "I'm sure Mandy didn't give you a break to wander the park."

Grim sighed and lifted his scythe with one hand and pointed. For a moment DeeDee, Ben, and Blossom felt their hearts skip a beat when the reaper weapon appeared to be aimed at their boy-genius. That, the grim reaper found amusing.

Dexter turned around, gazing over the lake. The clear waters used to glisten in the morning sun. But now, it was cloudy. Fish were belly up on the surface and the gray glazing was their scales and skin ripping apart in the current or by carnivorous species before they too suffered the same fate.

"Oh mi gosh," meeped DeeDee. "The fish. They're dead."

"Once this fellow's blood got into the water, all the fish began to die," explained Grim. "Sad fate, really." But that didn't stop him from chuckling. He was the grim reaper. He was used to death. He didn't care.

"I didn't know you employed in taking the souls of fish as well," retorted Dexter.

"I'm sorry, do you want me to take you too?"

"Hell no."

"Then I recon you keep that peeper shut, boy. Such an attitude will bump your name higher on my list."

Dexter clamped his mouth shut. He stared with pale baby blue eyes into the hollow, black sockets of the skull. It was haunting. And in that moment he felt a hint of fear, knowing that those 'eyes' stared right back. Right through his protective goggles. Passed his thick framed glasses and into his pinned irises. Reading his emotions. Taking a peep into the teen's future. Spoilers.

"I love the smell of fear in the morning," mused the symbol of death. "Have a nice day, kiddies."

And he vanished in a burst of fire.

"Chris Angel wannabe," said Ben.

Dexter stood in a vast rush of thoughts, staring straight passed his big sister and two friends. Friends… And he dare risk their health? Their _lives? _For the name of science? His eyes darted to the grassy earth where the microorganism scanning mechanism lay, its metallic structure and rifle shape making it stick out like a sore thumb.

Seeing his invention, Dexter jump down to it, spun on his elevated heels, and aimed the barrel to the male corpse and gazed blandly at the screen.

"What's the matter, Dex?" asked DeeDee. She moved up closer to her little brother and easily peered over his shoulder.

"Cause of death," he huffed. "It's all over this unfortunate individual. And in the water." Dexter slowly scanned the landscape. "On the… _In…_ the… it's airborne."

"What are we going to do?" gasped Blossom.

"Quarantine. Isolate Townsville Park. Nobody or nothing gets in; nobody or nothing gets out. Except for us, of course. I need my truck. Ben, come with me. DeeDee and Blossom, wait here. We'll be back shortly."

"To the Dexter mobile!" shouted Ben in attempts to relax the tension.


	9. Chapter IX

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews, y'all!

* * *

Pink eyes gazed down into those of the deceased man. Even with the air filter mask on, she could still smell the revulsion of decayed flesh. Not to the fullest, luckily, since the sieve retarded the offending odor. Unlike Blossom, DeeDee kept her back turned from the dead body. She'd even drift away ever so slightly to get away from it, but still be close to the white clad Powerpuff.

"He looks like he's in shock," Blossom muttered.

DeeDee spun around. "Hm? You say something?"

"His expression," she answered. Blossom slowly inched her way closer. "It looks like he died suddenly."

"He was bleeding to death, wasn't he?"

"It looks like that. But his eyes would be shut if that was the case." Blossom got down on one knee, actually happy that she was wearing the white clothing produced by DexLabs, as it gave her more covering from the bacteria swarming around the area.

"Ew, don't touch it!"

"I'm wearing gloves."

Blossom poked her white clothed index finger against the canine of the dead man's line of teeth. The tip of the finger was dyed in a light pink from the blood stained over the teeth. "There's more to this virus than throwing up blood."

"You sound like Dexter sometimes," muttered DeeDee.

"My father _is _Professor Utonium."

**-----------------------------------------**

With his goggles up on his forehead, Ben Tennyson watched as the young scientist threw open the back doors of his huge truck. Dexter jumped up into it with the help of a handrail. Ben took a step forward and crossed his arms over the surface of the bumper like a table, waiting for the smaller teen to find whatever he said he had to find.

Dexter opened a large drawer that slid out like those in a morgue. He took out the big black bag inside of it and threw it off to the side, throwing the drawer closed right afterwards.

"Is that a," Ben froze.

"A body bag? Yes."

"Why do you… wait, never mind. It's an obvious answer."

A grunt from the mysteriously Russian throat gave Ben the feeling his opinion was probably right. Still, even with the heavy duty body bag out, Dexter continued to rummage through the collection of sturdy containers. And his stiff shoulders loosened with his arms dropped to his sides.

"Can't find it, Dex, ol' boy?" chimed Ben.

"No, I found it," countered Dexter. "I'm just thinking of a way to explain its function in a way that you could understand."

Ben paused and took a deep inhale. "Hey! I can take your scientific mumbo jumbo."

"That's not what Gwen told me."

He quickly added, "To an extent."

"Ah hah." Dexter lifted the box with a bit of a quiver in his legs. He walked over to the edge of the truck and set it down on the flooring with a bit of a drop so he wouldn't loose his balance from bending over too far and tumble out headfirst. "Alright, Tennyson."

Ben jumped back out of the way when the boy-genius hoped out of the DexLab automobile to the concrete next to him. Ben looked up over his shoulder while Dexter leaned the box toward him and ran his hand through, what look like, odd hockey pucks.

"What are those?"

"I was getting to that," Dexter spun on his heels and held up one of the discs. "These are barrier generators. Quite like the ones around Infected Zones, only not as strict."

"So I have to set these things around the park to seal it off?"

"In a nutshell, yes," Dexter set the generator back into the box, picked it up, and shoved it into the arms of Ben who stared inside of it with a look of uncertainty. "Just pin one along the gate lining and push the centre down. About thirty should seal the park from the residence."

Ben took one out and looked at it. He dropped it back in and nodded. "What are you going to do?"

"You said it yourself," Dexter began, turning to slam the truck doors shut. "It's obvious."

Ben looked surprised. "You're going to take that _corpse _back to the lab?"

"I have to," he answered. "He died from the virus."

"And, dare I ask… What are you going to do with it?"

Ocean blue eyes and the raise of a red eyebrow caused green eyes to widen. It was the rush of possibilities through his head that caused Ben to contort his expression to revulsion. As though he had read his thoughts, Dexter hummed, 'mhm' for yes.

"Autopsy?" questioned Ben.

"You won't be watching," said Dexter. He noted the instant relief on Ben's face. "You can help with finding his family, though."

Ben froze.

"But first," Dexter pointed to the box. "Chop, chop."

**-----------------------------------------**

Tennyson jogged along the sidewalk with the dark blue box held with one hand holding it against his left hip. He trotted slow enough to count each crack in the sidewalk he jumped over. Ben would stop after the tenth and pin one of the mechanisms on the fence and pushed in the circle in the middle. He found out that the button sent little leg-like wires to cling tightly around the pole it was placed on and it connected to the previous gadget by a red static-like wall.

Ben didn't mind going about like this. His only trouble, however, were the few pedestrians staring at him. It wasn't everyday they'd see a teenager wearing a white jacket with matching pants, boots, and gloves along with his face covered with goggles and an air filtering mask. They were curious as to what the hell he was up to, but kept moving along.

Except for a man in blue uniform. He made it his business to march up in front of Ben Tennyson with a stern look on his face and his baton clutched in one hand.

"Boy, what do you think you're doing?" He growled.

"Sorry, officer," squeaked Ben. He paused for a split moment to read the badge on his chest. "Morgan…"

"Do you have a permit to put this thingamagigs up here?"

"No sir," Ben gulped. "But I'm with Dexter McPhearson. You know? DexLabs?"

"I don't give a rat's ass," snarled the officer of law. "You need permission to plant these what-evers around the place." He snatched one right out of the box and studied it. "These look like _bombs_…"

"I can assure you," the brunette swiped the mechanism back, "they're _not._ Please, I don't have time to deal with this. I need to seal up Townsville Park. There's a disease inside and these _barrier generators _keeps it trapped inside!"

The cop gritted his crooked teeth and grabbed hold of the box by the handles in attempt to take it from the junior. "Hand those over before I send you Downtown for questioning!"

Ben released the box and jumped back. He pulled on his left glove by the middle finger and removed it, revealing the alien green watch around his wrist. He turned the dial of the Omnitrix and raised his right hand over his head and said, "I didn't want to do this!" And slammed his palm down on the face.

In that moment the Omnitrix took over, stretching his limbs and morphing bones to fix to the chosen alien form. His flesh darkening in colour and the clothes seeming to disappear. Wings sprouted from Ben's back and antennae from behind his neck and over his newly shaped head. Big green, bug eyes opened from the tall and lean, moth-like alien.

The Necrofriggian stood up straight, taller than before, and announced his name in a ghostly voice, "_Big Chill!_"

The officer dropped the box. Just what Ben wanted. Officer Morgan took a step backward, realizing who the boy was. However, all he could do now was just stand there, mouth gapped open and his eyes wide. Because the black and blue alien exhaled a continuous flow of icy cold breath, coating the law enforcer in frost until he couldn't move.

"Sorry," said the Necrofriggian. His wings folded around his thin frame and gave him the look of a phantom. "I'm not going to jail until I make sure thousands aren't in the hospital because you stood between me and my job." The moth-like alien flashed bright white and the fifteen year old human boy stood in his place, the same as before he had went through the transformation.

Ben swiped the box up off the concrete sidewalk. "Later, _Morgan._" And he went right back to his previous assignment, sniggering lightly at the name.


	10. Chapter X

DeeDee jumped when the large DexLabs truck drove off-road toward them, releasing two repetitive blares from the horn. Blossom had heard it coming from afar, thanks to her supersensitive hearing. She and DeeDee darted out of the way to allow the bulky automobile to slowly inch its way by. They stared up to the driver's tinted window until a purple gloved hand pointed with its thumb to go to the back of the truck. DeeDee obeyed and Blossom followed right behind her.

They stopped in front of the back door of the truck when the vehicle shut off. They waited for Dexter to open it, only to flinch in surprise when the sound of a fist slamming against it rattled their eardrums.

"The door's stuck!"

"I got it," announced Blossom. She ascended up off the ground and gave the handle a tug, sending the door swinging open. The sudden force almost caused Blossom to hit the ground and threw Dexter right out of back of the truck from failure of _letting go of the handle._

And he lay flat on his stomach on the grassy ground with a low-tone grunt from the fall.

"Dexter?" DeeDee knelt next to her brother. "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry!" squeaked Blossom.

She dropped to the ground next to DeeDee just in time to help haul the boy-genius off the ground and to a stand when he raised a hand for aid. Dexter hobbled to find his equilibrium before he dusted blades of grass off his lab coat. He lifted his goggles up to his forehead and fixed his glasses, only to realize the fall had loosened a screw on the hinge leaving them slightly awry.

"I'm so sorry, Dexter," Blossom repeated.

"That's not your fault," Dexter huffed while lightly snapping his goggles back over his eyes. "That door gets stuck on the inside at times. It's a pain."

"Oh."

Dexter turned around and walked back to his truck. He pressed his palms flat down against the rear bumper and pushed himself up, cursing under his breath about his height and quickly got up to his feet before his dignity was damaged any further. He picked up the black bag and threw it out of the truck and followed behind it, closing the large door once back on the grass land below.

"What is this?" DeeDee asked as she lifted the heavy sack.

"Body bag," answered Dexter simply.

It was no surprise that DeeDee dropped the bag back to the ground and took a step away from it. Blossom stared at it and darted her pink eyes to the corpse next to the lake shore. She looked at the boy-genius and blinked.

"Autopsy," she said.

Dexter nodded his head with a look that said he was not exactly up for it."I'd like to think of it as a post-mortem examination."

"Isn't it illegal to perform an autopsy without a license?"

"I'd be arrested by now, wouldn't I?" Blossom and DeeDee both stared with wide-eyes. For some reason, he was _grinning. _But that quickly faded and Dexter said, "I'm joking."

He waited a short moment before taking in a deep breath with immediate exhalation that fogged the transparent material of his filter mask. Dexter looked over to the swollen carcass with his breath held without even replenishing his lungs right away. That corpse could've been _him._ If Ben hadn't of hurried to check up on Dexter in the laboratory that previous night, he'd probably be found dead, in the pool of his own blood later the next day.

Dexter took in a calm breath when he decided to pay Ben back for actually being there. Don't get him wrong. He still felt mourn over the death of an innocent residence. Yet lament couldn't dominate over inquisitiveness.

_3:27AM, _he pondered. _Why would there be a pedestrian in the park that early in the morning?_

He'd find out later. First Dexter had to get him in the body bag into the truck.

**-----------------------------------------**

Ben Tennyson had found himself back at the front entrance of the park. He placed down his thirty-third and final barrier generator and let out a lengthy sigh while it sealed up.

He stepped up to the gate entrance, now glazed over in a red static wave. Curiosity flooded Ben's mind and he slowly inched his white gloved hand to the barrier. Curiosity got the best of him as well when a jolt bolted through his fingertips and pulsed up his arm.  
"Ahg!" he yelped and yanked his hand back. Ben stripped his hand from the glove and studied his finger tips. Not a mark. Ben let out a huff. "Dexter, you're a_ mad_ scientist."

"I take that as a compliment."

That startled him. Ben spun around to see the DexLabs truck parked in the lot with its driver sitting on the back bumper. In his gloved hands were his glasses and a pigmy screwdriver in attempts to fix the hinge.

"Hey, Dex," Ben began to stride over to the boy-genius. "What's up?"

"Just set the container in the truck," said Dexter. He didn't look up from his spectacles, since his crippling eyesight would have him squinting just to make out Ben's facial features.

Ben hopped up into the back of the truck, giving the entire automobile an upward bop from the sudden addition of weight. He found an empty space amongst containers and set the one he was carrying down. He looked around and asked, "Where's Blossom and DeeDee?"

Dexter didn't answer.

"Yo, Dex!"

"DeeDee's in your seat," chimed Dexter. "And Blossom's in the restroom facilities."

Ben spun around and snapped through the entrance that separated the front from the back. He startled the pig-tailed blond who was skimming through a random booklet that she had found on the floor board.  
"I called shotgun, remember?" he griped.

DeeDee blinked her blue eyes and grinned. "I'll get up when we leave," she said calmly. "I just didn't want to help move the corpse."

Yes, the corpse was now in the truck. The counter doubled as a morgue drawer and now contained the heavy body bag with the dead man inside. It was almost _disturbing._

Of course Dexter needed help to get the body into the body bag and then moving it to the truck. Since DeeDee didn't want to offer any help to her little brother, Dexter had her to go back through the park and pick up the microbe scan devices that had been abandoned.

Blossom volunteered, but she obviously didn't enjoy it. She knew Dexter didn't either, given that his expression was really quite stale. The Powerpuff Girl now scrubbed her hands and arms in park restrooms, right outside of the gate. Dexter had given her a small hand sanitizer bottle and a decontamination bag to discard the antibacterial uniform in.

She would return shortly after in her Powerpuff Girls uniform.

"Mother boarder," Dexter growled.

Ben jumped over to his side and looked over his shoulder. "What's with the language, Dexobo?"

"Would you not call me that?" he snapped. "I dropped the bloody screw."

"I'll find it!" Ben leaped out of the truck and got down to his hands and knees. He slowly inched himself on the concrete, looking around for a glint of silver.

"Thanks," said Dexter, "but no thanks. I have another somewhere."

The boy-genius picked up the small, pocket sized glasses repair kit. Azure eyes where squinted in attempts to focus enough to at least spot the glimmer of a screw. Yet they went from glaring to wide-eyes the second the other teen broke out into fits of laughter.

"Mother boarder!" laughed Ben. "You geeks have your own line of swears!"

Dexter blinked and stared blindly at the brunette. He just waited patiently until the cackles ceased. And they did, with a raise of a blurry arm and the sudden announcement of, "I found it!"

"Oh," piped the red-head. He held a hand out to take it. "Thank you."

"Oh no, you don't!" barked Ben. "Give me those specs; I'll fix them."

Dexter squinted. He was hesitant about handing over his glasses to the teen, but with poor eyesight that was against him, the boy-genius handed them over with the screwdriver.

**-----------------------------------------**

Limbs and joints quaked in weakness against every motion. Pressure built up around the skull as a headache sat in. But he continued on, leaving the street of Genius Groove. Steadily he paced with one foot in front of the other, then quickened.

He broke into a jog with a heavy exhale each time his foot hit the sidewalk. A cape fluttered from his shoulders and flared in the wind.

He had to get to Tech Square. He _had _to make it to Mandark Industries. To run tests and find out what was wrong with him.


	11. Chapter XI

**A/N: **Sorry about the hiatus. These things happen.

* * *

By the time Ben had finished repairing Dexter's glasses, Blossom had returned to the scene in her regular Powerpuff's uniform. Dexter remained seated on the back of the truck with his legs dangling over the edge, far from reaching the pavement below.

"How's this?" asked Ben, holding the glasses up to the redhead.

"Much better," he answered as he adjusted them over his blue orbs. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Blossom walked around Ben and set a bag next to Dexter.

"Here's the antibacterial suit," she said.

"Ah, thanks."

"Mind if I fly ahead back your lab? Incase the professor is already there."

Dexter got up to a stand and swiped the bag from the floor of the truck. As he turned around to put it up he said, "Sure thing. Let Professor Utonium know what's going on too. Just… don't mention Grim's visit."

"Yeah, he'll freak," Blossom let out a sigh. "Thanks."

Dexter turned around. "See you shortly."

After all was said, Blossom was gone in a blare of pink light. Ben gathered together these facts and jumped into the truck after Dexter. He glanced over his shoulder and decided to take the chance to remove his white jacket.

"Put it in the bag, Ben," said Dexter, his back still turned.

"Alright."

Underneath the white antibacterial uniform was his usual clothing, minus the green jacket. That he ditched after Dexter spewed blood on it. Ben stuffed the coat and pants in the bag and asked,

"We're leaving soon, right?"

"Yes," Dexter answered.

"Hear that, DeeDee? You have to get out of my seat!"

"Don't talk to my sister like that."

Ben paused and looked up. He then added, "Please?"

DeeDee giggled. She hopped up from the passenger seat and walked to the back where the two boys were. Like Ben, she saved time by putting the bacterial protection suit on over her ballerina outfit. However, she waited until the two were sitting up front before she took it off.

"Shot gun!" Ben shouted, who ran up front after putting on his regular sneakers.

**-----------------------------------------**

A flash or red and the bulky DexLabs truck came to a halt. Dexter stared through the windshield of his vehicle at the red-light, patiently waiting for it to change green. The scarlet glow reminded him so clearly of the horrid eyes of the Fusions. The green it changed into a minute later of their gross skin colour.

With a gear shifted, the vehicle started moving once more to its destination. The boy-genius kept focused to the road, but couldn't help run through his thoughts about the virus and how it was connected to the Fusions.

"Ben," he said.

The brunette perked his head up. "Yeah?"

"I need you to head out to Sector V when we're back at the lab," Dexter announce.

"Oh, okay," Ben responded. "But why?"

"I had gone to Townsville Park, Sector V, and Genius Grove when I had obtained the samples. We know now the virus is in Townsville Park, but it _could _be elsewhere."

"Sector V is still torn up," stated Ben. "The Kids Next Door are repairing and cleaning up there."

"Exactly. And they could be endangered."

"What about Genius Grove?"

"Mandark is in Genius Grove. I'll call and ask for a status report," Dexter paused. "This virus could be all over the place, Ben. The war has ended, but a new battle has just begun."

**-----------------------------------------**

Professor Utonium caught sight of Bubbles' attention propelled elsewhere. She was originally listening to Blossom and Buttercup ramble at each other about the virus until she heard the distant roar of a truck as it took a turn. The professor turned around just in time to see the DexLabs truck making its way up the lot and stopping, parked next to the building's entry way on the opposite side where Utonium had parked.

By this time Blossom had stopped answering any of Buttercup's nagged filled questions to follow the professor and Bubbles toward the truck. Inside they could see Ben struggling with the seatbelt while Dexter was already hopped out of the driver's door.

"Dexter," he called out.

"Hello, Professor," Dexter greeted as he made his way to the door of his lab.

"What's going on?"

"One moment." Dexter ran his purple clad fingers over the keypad next to the laboratory doors. With a beep of confirmation, the entrance was unlocked.

"Welcome back, Dexter," spoke Computress.

Dexter turned around to face the adult, though his head was pulled back and facing upward due to his height. "The virus is airborne in Townsville Park and it has even polluted the lake. I've already isolated the park from the public, but it is more than likely that it has spread out."

Professor Utonium looked in worry. He absorbed these facts before asking, "What are your plans about this?"

"We found a human body that had died from the virus. I believe an autopsy will be necessary to find out how it kills," Dexter raised a hand and adjusted his glasses. Though he spoke with a serious tone of voice, his expression gave the slightest hint of distress that he tried his best to conceal. He continued,

"Meanwhile I'll need Sector V, Genius Grove, and just about every Fusion sighting scanned and rescanned for traces of the disease."

"Hey, brainiac," Buttercup snapped in. "Blossom said you were infected too, right? Why aren't you dead?"

"Buttercup!" Utonium growled.

"Anti-retinal viral," Dexter answered. "It's like an antibiotic, but for viruses. It also seems that the immune system forces the body to bleed it out. I was coughing up blood while I was infected."

"But you can still bleed to death," added Utonium.

"Right."

During their conversation, Ben and DeeDee ran up to join the group soon enough to hear the information about the past Fusion locations. DeeDee stepped to her little brother's side while they waited for the conversation to end.

By the tone of Dexter's Russian accent and his expression it was quite obvious the situation was now considered crucial. A matter of life and death if the virus were to spread; Lord Fuse might have failed in his goal of Earth's annihilation, but the strain left behind could do _just that _to the population.

One innocent man was one too many in Dexter's opinion. Hell, there could be someone else, somewhere, already infected. Coughing globs of blood into a tissue and in panic as to what was wrong with their body. Left to die in confusion as a doctor wouldn't know how to treat such an ailment.

Dexter turned his attention to Ben. "Ready to go to Sector V?"

"You do realize we haven't had breakfast yet," he responded, "right?"

"Welcome to my world."

Ben let out a huff. "I'm joking. As much as I would like a smoothie right now... What do I need?"

"Same as before."

"White clothes, micro scanner thing, and a mask. Gotcha."

"Micro scanner things," Dexter repeated with a raise of an eyebrow. "Don't bother with the clothing. Pandemonium might break loose if they see an individual dressed in protected gear while everyone else is exposed." He paused. "You know what? On second thought, I think assistance would be a requirement for you, Benjamin."

"Are you saying I can't do it on my own?"

"I'll go with him," Blossom announced, raising her hand.

"Count us in!" both Buttercup and Bubbles snapped.

Blossom looked up and said, "Professor?"

As much as he worried, Professor Utonium knew there was no saying no. He wasn't alone, as he could see Dexter's concern through his thick-framed glasses. One dead body could easily become many in a matter of days or maybe even _hours_. And no one but the handful of people knew it was out in the open.

Utonium then answered with, "Be safe, girls."


	12. Chapter XII

_Name: Lents, Daniel_

_Sex: M_

_D.O.B: 17 August 1982_

_Occupation: Office Manager_

Dexter hadn't bothered looking for the human body's information until his DexBots moved the corpse to the analysis lab. The carcass now lay on a cold cadaver dissection table across the room. Dexter was suited in an alternative lab coat, white gloves instead of purple, a mask over his mouth and nose, and a cap on his head to prevent stray strands of his red hair from landing amongst the delicate work procedure.

However, now, he was frozen. He had looked a little too much when he found a photograph of Daniel Lents himself, smiling happily with his wife and child. Such a heart breaking thing to see, knowing the man in the photo was now dead.

Dexter slipped the picture back into the wallet and set it down on the counter. He picked up a scalpel and walked over to the dead man, nervously fumbling with the surgeon's knife in his hand. Dexter placed it down onto the tray next to the cadaver table and picked up an audio recorder. An old fashioned one that he dubbed obsolete.

He looked over the corpse. It was stripped with no covering except for a cloth over the pelvis area. Dexter then noted his observations into the recording device.

"Subject: Daniel Lents. Born August 17, 1982 and died at the age of 27, July 21, 2009 at 3:27AM. A victim of the Fusion virus found in Townsville Park. No recent visible wounds," The boy-genius lifted the man's forearm and looked at the palm. "Surgical scar on the right palm. Looks like he suffered a massive case of carpal tunnel."

He placed the recorder down, but close enough for it to pick up his voice. He lifted his white clad hands and forced the mouth of the man open, flashing a light inside that he had gotten from the small table next to him.

"Dehydrated. Fillers in the molars. He's in the stages of rigor mortis," Dexter leaned up and stared down. "He died looking of shock. His eyes are wide open. But he _should_ have died slowly from the loss of blood. His eyes should be shut."

"Oh well," He sighed and took the scalpel off the table. "External observations complete. Let's see the internal damage."

Dexter raised the scalpel and pressed it down into the pinkish red skin of the corpse's chest and he dragged it along the flesh. Blood seeped slowly out of the cut as the blade trailed slowly down the sternum.

**-----------------------------------------**

"What do you mean there's a virus?" Numbah Four griped. He pulled his blond bangs out of the way of his eyes to study the contraption in Ben's hands. Ben is question had Bubbles and Buttercup stand at his sides, keeping Numbah Two from coming by to study it up close.

"We're not so sure, Numbah Four," answered Blossom. "Dexter didn't say precisely, but it's pretty clear it was left behind by the Fusions."

"Dex was infected last night," Ben added. "He was throwing up blood but he's better now."

"And today they found someone who died from it," piped Bubbles.

"Died!?" eeped Numbah Three, bringing her sleeve engulfed hands over her mouth.

"Way to keep them from panicking, Bubbles," groaned Buttercup.

"I'm sorry."

"Dex is walking proof that you _can _recover from it, though," said Ben.

It was Numbah One's turn to step in. "So this virus is airborne?"

"Yes," replied Blossom. "Ben will scan Sector V for traces."

"And if it's here, what should we do?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The green clad Powerpuff butted in. "Haul ass out of here!"

"Evacuation is a solution," Blossom restated.

"Right," sighed Numbah One. "Right, let's find out. It would be best to go to the top of the tree house. The higher you are, the better view you have."

**-----------------------------------------**

"If anyone even _coughs_, we'll give you a call. Frankie out."

Professor Utonium sat at the master computer in the main section of DexLabs. He was to call and contact anyone and everyone involved in the war against Fuse and still resigned in Fusion sightings. He would've been in the dissection lab with Dexter to help him with the autopsy, but the boy made it clear that time was something they couldn't afford.

Dexter claimed that he could do the post-mortem on his own while he needed someone to retrieve status reports on residences' health. And Professor Utonium knew full well that he wouldn't let DeeDee at the controls.

DeeDee herself was sitting close behind the adult, listening in to the calls. She wished there was _something _she could do to help. Such a situation was stressful and they needed all the help they could get.

"_Mandark is in Genius Grove," _Dexter's voice echoed in her head.

DeeDee stood up from her seat and stepped up until she stood next to the chair Utonium sat in. "Professor?"

"Yes, DeeDee?"

"Did you contact Genius Grove yet?"

Utonium paused to think. Did he? He did. And he didn't get an answer. He leaned over to the controls and typed in the contact number for Genius Grove. The Professor looked up to the screen while speaking, "Yes, I did. But no one answered."

_Connecting to Genius Grove……………………… Connection timed out._

"No answer."

"Mandark is in Genius Grove," DeeDee spoke, repeating her little brother's words. "Try again."

Professor Utonium did not stall. Again he reentered the contact number. Again he stared up at the screen. Again the connection made its attempt to reach out and grab hold of someone at the other end.

_Connecting to Genius Grove……………_

But this time, some_thing_ answered.

"_Greeting, humanoids."_

"It's a Mandroid," muttered Utonium. "Is Mandark there?"

"_Negative. Master has left to his lab in Tech Square."_

"What time did he leave?"

"_8:47A.M."_

Utonium looked at the digital clock of the computer screen. _10:02A.M._

"Alright, thank you," said Utonium before disconnecting.

Utonium then entered in the number for Mandark Industries and watched as the system tried to connect. Only to fail. The man growled and tried again. Repeatedly, he strived to gain an answer from the evil boy-genius, whose residence was right across the street of the DexLabs building.

He wasn't answering and for which Professor Utonium feared the worse. One more time, he keyed the number. One more time he glared as the screen as though he were sending a mental transmission, threatening the other end to answer.

_Connection timed out._

Utonium leaned back in the chair, bothered. He let out a huff as he pondered possibilities. He grimaced at the slightest thought of Dexter at the cadaver. The dead body. That _could _be Mandark.

"DeeDee, you…" Utonium turned around to face the girl. "DeeDee?" But she was gone.

**-----------------------------------------**

Ben stared at the display on the micro-scan device. He was standing on the highest platform of the tree house, with thanks from the Powerpuff Girls. Buttercup looked over the edge, staring all the way down at the mess left behind by the Fusion attack. Buildings demolished, trees fallen, the fountain smashed, cars wrecked… all reduce to rubble.

"Man, this place is in chaos," said Buttercup. "See anything yet, Ben?"

"This is bad..."

"This is bad?" Blossom reiterated. "What do you mean by that?"

"Look."

Blossom took the device and aimed it to Ben's previous target. Far off into the distance. One gaze at the screen and she gasped, causing her sisters to leap to her side and look over her shoulder.

On the image, the landscape was black in white. Right over the scenery the skies were patched in an ocean like current of orange. The virus, invisible to the naked eye, loomed high over their heads just waiting for its next victim.

No doubt about it. Sector V was infected.

**-----------------------------------------**

He leaned heavily against the wall next to the door. He tried to hard to enter the pin number to access the lab right, but a throbbing headache and a case of nausea caused his fingers to slip and push the wrong keys. Mandark crossed his arm across his abdomen as he felt the urge to hurl. He clutched a hand over his mouth and pressed his weight against the wall in front of him.

Maybe if he just rested a moment. Mandark groaned and his body bowed forward. His cape draped over his body and concealed his show of weakness. Mandark's knees trembled and he let out a wheeze as he felt his stomach churn with an ache. He was afraid to open his mouth in fear it would grant his stomach permission to project its contents out on the sidewalk.

He groaned once more and squeezed his eyes shut. Mandark had woken up early morning feeling a little woozy. He abided it and went on to work, only to feel more sluggish as the minutes went by. Before long he felt a headache and a sudden loss of appetite.

The raven haired teen hadn't eaten breakfast because of which and he questioned why he felt so nauseous. Possibly the food he consumed the night before at the victory party? Mandark didn't eat _much._ Maybe a few chips and half a cup of punch, but not enough that would really upset his stomach. He had left early when he realized DeeDee was already gone.

Now Mandark was slowly slipping down to the sidewalk he stood on. He wished someone was with him. He'd never felt so sick in his life. He didn't want to suffer alone. Mandark struggled to stay standing and that struggle was an all out war against his quivering body.

"Mandark?" That voiced caused the ailed teen's pounding heart to flutter. "Mandark! Are you alright!?"

He looked up over his shoulder. Mandark's eyes were a blur, even with his glasses due to the tears built up from his agony. But he could tell as clear as day that the pink clad figure running toward him was like an angel.

He removed his hand and made a failed attempt to straighten his back.

"Dee," Mandark rasped out as she stopped in front of him. "Dee… D-"

Mandark's words came to an abrupt halt. He collapsed forward to his knees as he spewed bright red blood from his mouth. His palms pressed flat onto the ground and as the geyser continued its sudden eruption.

It happened in an instant and in the process Mandark's glasses fell from his face and into the crimson fluid. His stone grey eyes stared in shock as every joint in his body quaked from fatigue and he lost control. He was _crying._

"What the hell is wrong with me!?"


	13. Chapter XIII

**A/N:** Hope my readers aren't squeamish! I sure am.  
**  
**

* * *

Her hands trembled as they cupped over her mouth. DeeDee stared in both stun and disgust at the puddle of blood. She wasn't there when Dexter was sick and she didn't realize how horrid the experience really was. That was considered projectile vomiting and she instantly felt grieve seeing Mandark, keeled over on his hands and knees with his tears falling from his face into the crimson fluid.

"Mandark," eeped DeeDee.

"Stay back, DeeDee!" He snapped, not moving from his position. His outburst caused another spill from his mouth and he shook as he felt his arm muscles loose their support. "I don't… want you to…" And he collapsed forward in his own puddle of blood.

"Mandark!" DeeDee ignored his plea and got down on one knee next to him, paying close attention not to touch to the blood. "Mandark, you have to get up! Dexter can help you!"

He groaned and cracked his eyes open. All Mandark could see was a blurry image of mixed colours, but that didn't matter to him. He made a slow, lethargic effort to climb up to his feet, ignoring the fact that he had gotten his blood on his face, hands, hair, and shirt. Once again, that didn't matter.

DeeDee would try to help, but Mandark kept resisting. The slightest touch on his forearm and he would yank it back out of her reach. It was obvious he didn't want DeeDee getting sick either, but she kept going against his refusal to resist assistants.

"DeeDee, let," he coughed before he could finish his sentence.

"You're moving too slow!" DeeDee had captured Mandark from under his arms from behind. She made an attempt to haul him up to his feet, but was unsuccessful. Mandark's body was too weak; too limp to support his own weight anymore.

"Hold on, Mandark," she gently rested the ill struck genius on his back. "I'll go get help. Please, stay awake until I come back. I'll be right back. Hold on…"

Mandark gasped out and coughed. He stared blindly up to the sky. He listened to DeeDee's foot steps hurry into the distance until he couldn't hear them anymore. Wind blew gently through the air, brushing the dry tresses of his black hair from his face. Despite his sight blurred due to the lack of glasses, he stared up and watched the cotton balls of the sky roll by.

And he felt sleepy.

**-----------------------------------------**

White clad hands grasped the edge of the cadaver. He has started the autopsy at 9:29A.M., and the clock now showed 10:56A.M. Dexter had just about as much as he could take of slicing into and observing every little abnormality of organs.

Though he wasn't done _just yet. _The chest cavity had been opened up; the heart noted to be almost completely dry of blood, the lungs wounded on the inside with what looked like burns, the stomach with patches of thinned hide that allowed blood to seep through and mix with the acid within.

He had noticed a major piece in the confusing puzzle during which. Series of blood clots through the arteries and veins that was far too abnormal to be caused naturally. Already Dexter knew the virus entered through the respiratory system and was transferred to the cardiovascular. Once in the blood stream, the virus began a process of creating clots as the heart pumped it through.

Dexter gave himself a mental note to get a bio scan for thrombus when he was done.

It was time to check the brain. The cut started behind one ear, trailed over the crown of the head, and ended behind the other. The skin was pulled back, exposing the skull for removal, which an electric saw made possible; opening it up like a cap.

Dexter took away the plate with careful handling and, when he saw the tissue of the brain, he would've dropped it. Yet he managed to keep his grip to place the skull cap onto the sanitary table next to him.

Blood poured out onto the cadaver the second the cap came off. The brain was ruptured and looked as though the cells had burst. Grey was the colour Dexter had expected to see. Instead it was red and black and _dead._ It was a gruesome, vicious form of hemorrhaging.

No wonder Daniel Lents died with a look of shock. The attack to the brain looked like it happened in only several seconds and killed him instantly. For a split moment Dexter wished he was at the park at the late hour of two in the morning, witnessing the death so he could portray the violent symptoms. But he himself was in a bed, in sickbay, being treated for the virus.

Dexter took his scalpel and sliced off a sample of the brain for analysis. He turned and placed the sample in a container of formalin. The boy-genius was just about finished and only needed to seal up his incisions.

**-----------------------------------------**

"Wake up, Mandark!"

He didn't. His eyes didn't even twitch. Mandark remained motionless on the cold ground. DeeDee gave his body a shake and his head slumped lifelessly to the side.

"Professor!"

"Hold on," Professor Utonium got down to his knees next to the pale boy. He took a hand and pressed two fingers against the flesh of the neck, looking for a pulse. Narrowed eyes eased and he let out a relieved sigh. "He's alive. Unconscious, but alive."

DeeDee stared at his face. She and Utonium were quiet for a short moment to listen to his breathing pattern. Slow, laboured wheezes followed by the gurgling sound of blood in the back of his throat. How could they've missed hearing that? Mandark's chest was expanding and declining very notably, but no one could blame the two of worrying.

The Professor slipped his arms under Mandark's limp frame and carefully lifted him off the ground. "Let's get him to the infirmary."

**-----------------------------------------**

"_Dexter._"

"Computress," Dexter looked up toward the intercom, "I'm busy."

"_I'm sorry, Dexter. But Professor Utonium said it was urgent._"

"Urgent," he echoed. "How urgent?"

"_Mandark is sick. He's in the infirmary."_

That hit him. Dexter gritted his teeth and dropped his scalpel on the tray. He stared at the corpse of the dead man and the slightest thought of his rival in the same situation, lying dead on a dissection table, caused him to snarl. Not twenty-four hours into his discovery, Dexter was already feeling stressed.

"Computress," Dexter started, "seal the body and store it in a morgue. Also, look up any and all contacts to his family. His name is Daniel Lents."

"_Yes, Dexter._"

**-----------------------------------------**

"How was the autopsy?" Utonium asked.

"I'll let you read the log later," he answered. Dexter had just entered the medical bay.

It took Dexter eight minutes to go through a decontamination process and he wielded the appearance of someone in a hurry; he didn't straighten his coat's collar, the left strap of his glove was undone, he'd completely forgotten about his watch, and he looked as though someone kept petting his head to mess up his hair.

"Where's Mandark? How is he?"

"That room," Utonium said with a nod to an open door. "DeeDee found him just outside of his lab. He was unconscious when I got to him."

"Has he been given anything?"

"Not yet."

He didn't say anything else. Dexter walked into the room with the Professor following. DeeDee was standing next to the bed and Mandark lied on his back on top of the sheets. On the other side of the bed, a medic-bot waited for further instructions.

Dexter's first task was looking into Mandark's mouth at the back of his throat. Blood was still mixed with saliva and his throat was reddened. But when Dexter looked into his eye, Mandark stirred and tried to shift away.

"Mandark," Dexter said, "are you awake?"

He responded with a groan.

"Is that a yes?"

"What do you think?"

Dexter looked up at DeeDee who looked over at Utonium. He shrugged, she shrugged, and Dexter raised an eyebrow.

"I need you to answer a few questions, Mandark."

Mandark opened his eyes and squinted. He was blind without his glasses but he did his best to focus on his rival.

"How are you feeling? Explain your symptoms in detail."

"I was throwing up blood, Dexter!" he growled. "My stomach hurts! I'm nauseous! I have a headache! I can't see!" he paused for a breath. Each word he said was swift and straight to the point like a snake thrashing warning strikes at a threat.

Mandark went to start again, but he was cut short the second he uttered the first syllable. He rolled over to his side, clutching a hand over his mouth as blood poured out and stained the white sheets. He curled in a ball as the pain increased through his body and coughed a few times to force the blood out that stubbornly remained in his esophagus.

"What are you going to do, Dexter?" Utonium stepped in.

Dexter didn't answer right away. He looked at his archrival with a vibe of worry that he didn't bother to hide. Who wouldn't be worried? He could sooner die of brain hemorrhaging or bleeding to death in the abdomen.

"One thing I discovered from the autopsy," he started, "was that the flesh of the stomach was thinned."

"Like an ulcer?"

"I don't think it's _like _an ulcer. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't."

"Oh," Utonium stopped there, realizing why Dexter stalled to answer precisely.

"I don't know how I should treat it..."

DeeDee jumped in on the situation. "You have to figure out something!"

"But…"

"No buts! I know you can, Dexter. You're a genius."

Just the remark in itself caused him to blush. He was flushed red from the stress, not embarrassment if there ever were any. Dexter looked back down to Mandark who had already fallen into the sea of unconsciousness.

"We'll help anyway we can," DeeDee stated. "Right Professor?"

"Of course," he smiled with a nod.

Dexter returned the gesture with a smile of his own that lasted for just a couple seconds. He looked back down at the boy who occupied the bed in a trembling heap. He gently pushed Mandark until he was rolled on his back and his body uncoiled in reaction.

Dexter gritted his teeth.

"Medic, run a bio scan. Alert me if you detect any internal damage _at all_."

"_Yes, Dexter,_" responded the robot.

"Give Mandark the same treatment given to me and keep a constant monitor on his health."

"_Yes, Dexter._"

He cleared his throat. "That is all."


	14. Chapter XIV

**A/N:** Overdue chapter was overdue.

* * *

Depending on who was asked, the day was either dragging itself by or zooming fast out of sight. It put Dexter in anxiety when he realized it was only still morning.

_11:31A.M, _the clock read.

DeeDee stayed in the infirmary to keep Mandark company, if he were to wake up. Dexter had little doubt that his rival's health wouldn't get any worse now that he was under medical attention. He also had _no_ doubt that Mandark would stay in bed if it meant having DeeDee's attention.

Dexter couldn't hold back a chuckle at the assumption.

He and Professor Utonium sat in front of a large screen of the laboratory's master computer. Dexter was up at the consol, typing away and bringing up information while the Professor sat slightly behind him, staring at the monitor.

"What are we looking at?"

"The respiratory system," the boy answered. "The virus is airborne and enters the body by inhalation."

An image of the lower respiratory tract came to screen. It was the trachea, bronchi, and lungs of the human body. Dexter took out a laser pointer (which was just a regular, experimented-free laser this time) and used it to address areas on the representation as he spoke.

"During the autopsy, I noticed the lungs looked as though they've been burned," Dexter paused for a moment to cough and clear his throat. "From the inside, I mean. The alveoli also looked swollen."

Utonium used the opportunity to jump in. "Was he a smoker? Dexter, have you looked up this man's medical history?"

Dexter's eyes widened at the realization. "Do you think respiratory problems could be involved, Professor?"

"There's always that possibility."

Dexter leaned over to the consol and started typing; looking up anything he could on the man. Daniel was a manager of an office. Dexter knew that much along with his date of birth, the state his license was registered, and even the consumption of calcium based on how tough it was to cut through the bone of his ribs.

Not five minutes into his search did the elevator let out a soft ding, followed by a laboured cry, "Dexter!"

The cry of his name caused him to jump and Professor bolted to a stand. They were both to their feet and turned around with caution toward the direction of the yell. Then the two scientists power walked after it.

Ben Tennyson was slumped forward and clutching onto his own trembling, bent knees for support. He was facing down at the floor as he wheezing for breath, not realizing that his sudden appearance caused a strike of panic.

"Benjamin!" Dexter hollered.

He shook and coughed and forced himself to stand up straight. The brunette's black shirt was drenched in sweat and his hair was damp against his forehead.

"I'm fine!" gasped Ben. "I ran here… I can hardly breathe!"

Professor was astonished. "All the way from Sector V!?"

"_No! _Jetray. The Omnitrix it… timed out."

"Idiot," scoffed Dexter.

Before anyone realized what was coming, the boy-genius had Ben by the arm in the tightest of grips and was pulling him across the room. Ben followed tiredly behind him, trailing the leading path to the master computer. He was wondering why the heck Dexter was dragging him there. Even though Ben could easily yank his arm away, he didn't and just let the smaller but wiser boy take him where ever.

The trip didn't last long and Ben found himself shoved into a chair. Dexter's chair. The brunet slumped the second he had changed positions.

Professor Utonium caught up. He was a bit shocked by what just occurred but figured that it'd be best not to question it and to leave the conclusion at _Dexter is stubborn._

"What happened?" Dexter asked (or rather demanded).

Ben covered his mouth and let in a yawn. He managed to catch his breath to answer,

"You know Numbuh 255?"

Dexter went silent. He had a hunch where this was going. It was up to Utonium to confirm it. "Isn't he a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. pilot?"

Ben coughed with a nod. He continued, "He was in a nose dive and crashed in Hero Square."

_Dead _silence. Besides Ben's deep, slow, and audible breathing, Dexter and the Professor were in awe from the sudden news. Though the details weren't scraped up, they both felt as though it wasn't a happily ever after story.

*******

"_Mayday! Mayday! This is Numbuh 255 reporting! I am returning from Peach Creek and I can't hold out much longer! I need a… I ne…"_

_Numbuh Two had picked up the transmission on the radio. Numbuh One, Ben, and the Powerpuff Girls had heard it and immediately looked up to the sky, just in time to see the dark green van-like rocket falling at an uncontrolled rate._

"_Incoming!" Buttercup took off in a green beam with Blossom and Bubbles following suit. _

_Ben quickly leaped in to help. He turned the dial of his Omnitrix and his body changed forms to accommodate his selection. With a rise of his now reddened arms he announced, "Jetray!" and took flight. _

"_Catch it!" Ordered Blossom. _

_It was proven to be a bad choice when they quickly realized that the altitude was just too high and it was falling too fast. _

_Bubbles flew out of the way from a sudden hit of panic. Buttercup slammed into the tinted windshield and was lucky it didn't break. Blossom was sideswiped and spun in midair for a moment. She then gathered herself and hurriedly flew after the falling ship. _

"_I got it!" shouted Jetray._

_He shot up in front of the oncoming vehicle and immediately realized his mistake. _

_The Aerophibian alien was smashed against the flat front of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. just like a bug. It hurt, but he kept his eyes open, looking through the thick glass. The pilot inside stared back at him with panic filled brown eyes._

"_He's still alive!" Jetray announced._

"_Good!" Buttercup snapped. She raised a fist and sent it crashing through the windshield, causing Numbuh 255 to yank back on the controls in fear. _

_But nothing happened. The controls were malfunctioning. Ben didn't notice before, but the dashboard was covered in blood. _255's blood. _He was infected, just like Dexter was, but still very much conscious. _

_Buttercup flew into the broken open window and swept the KND operative in her arms. _

"_Brace yourself, Benji!" she yelled before flying out the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. door._

"_What? Wait—AH!" _

_The vehicle impacted in Hero Square. _

_*******_

It was no wonder Ben had arrived at DexLabs so worn out. He felt the impact of the crash and had to fly as fast as he could to Tech Square. The Powerpuff Girls had to stay behind and help the KND evacuate Sector V, so it was up to Ben to deliver the news.

However, the Omnitrix timed out just as he flew over the border separating Suburbs and Downtown. The brunet had to run the rest of the way. He was thankful to have learned a shortcut through the river by a productive freedom fighter, without getting wet even, as long as the one crossing could jump.

"_Aaahg_, I feel woozy!" groaned Ben. He leaned forward and clutched his head as a headache progressed on him.

"I'll get some water," Utonium announced.

Dexter saw the Professor run off and shook his head as he looked back at Ben.

"Ben," he brought his purple clad hands down on the brunet's shoulders. "Benjamin, tell me. Did the virus spread? Has it festered Sector V?"

Ben slumped his head, taking in a deep breath.

Slowly he nodded. "Y-yes… But it's all airborne," he gasped. "In the clouds, I mean… There's no telling how long it'll stay though."

"It must thrive in humid environments," Dexter thought for a moment and snapped his fingers. "After midnight! The landscape will be shrouded in fog and the virus will fall to ground level then. We need to evacuate the citizens."

Ben wheezed. Dexter paused and stared at his friend. He gently patted him on the back and said,

"You've done enough, Ben. You need to rest."


End file.
